


A Winter's Tale

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Poltergeist: The Legacy
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Mentions of Suicide, Snow, Storytelling, Talking, ghost story, trapped in a car, trapped in snow, troubled spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 14:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5669473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Kat are stranded in the snow with only each other for company.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Winter's Tale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spirited_lizard](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=spirited_lizard).



> Written for spirited_lizard who gave the prompt “stuck in a snow storm”. Originally posted to Livejournal in 2010.

Kat shivered in the passenger seat and leaned up to wipe her hand against the windscreen. It was so iced up that she could barely see out of it and Nick was just a blob of red as he tried to clear the snow in front of them. She knew it was no good though. They'd been heading back to the hotel where the other team members were investigating a ghost sighting when they'd skidded over some black ice and came to rest in a drift of snow. Snow that was still falling, all around them.

Nick opened the door and darted inside, shutting it quickly behind him. He was covered in a thin layer of snow and his cheeks were bright red.

“Did you get hold of Mom?” Kat asked.

“Yeah,” Nick replied, rubbing his hands together. “Told her we can't get through. Derek's going to see if he can get a van here to pull us out.” He turned and smiled and Kat. “You doing okay over there, kiddo?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

Nick stared at her for a beat. “I'll be right back.”

Kat watched him disappear out into the snow again and then heard him open up the trunk. He returned with some blankets and a couple of flasks.

“One has hot chocolate in,” he said, passing it over to her.

“What does the other one have?”

“Never you mind,” he replied with a grin. She took the flask and poured herself a cup. It certainly helped warm her up a bit, but she wasn't looking forward to spending the night out here.

“How long will they be?” she asked.

“I'm sure they won't be more than an hour. Your mom's not going to want you out here for long.”

“She won't want you to be stuck here, either,” Kat pointed out. Nick leaned over her and put her blanket around her.

“No, I'm sure she won't.”

“Have the others found the ghost yet?” Kat asked after a minute's silence, spent looking out the window and seeing the snow swirling even faster as the wind picked up.

“I don't think so,” Nick shrugged. “There might not even be a ghost. Sometimes bumps in the night really are just creaking floorboards.”

“And sometimes they're not,” Kat replied softly.

“So, what should we do to pass the time?”

“I guess I-Spy is out?” she asked with a toothy smile.

“Yeah,” Nick chuckled. “I think we'd be struggling after snow, ice and car.”

“You could tell me a story?” Kat suggested. “About one of your old cases.”

She turned big brown eyes on Nick, who was already racking his brains for a decent story for her that wouldn’t have her mother coming after him, complaining about giving Kat nightmares.

“All right,” Nick said. “I think I've got just the one.”

> “It was one of the earliest cases Derek ever sent me on, on my own. It was the week leading up to Christmas and was as cold as I'd ever known it. The reports we had were of a house being renovated with strange noises in the night and mysterious cold spots. Derek didn't think much of it, but sent me out to look anyway.
> 
> The house was fairly ordinary, aside from the tarpaulin along one side, where the builders were knocking out the wall and extending the whole house. The new owner, Brian Hutchinson, immediately put me on edge. He was arrogant and so full of himself I was surprised his head didn’t get stuck every time he went through the front door. It was his aunt, an old friend of Derek's, who'd called us, and he didn't leave me with any doubt that he thought my presence there was nonsense.
> 
> But after a bit of persuasion on my part, he agreed to let me stay the night, once all the builders had gone.

Kat giggled and then shifted in her seat. Nick raised an eyebrow at her.

“Persuasion?” she asked.

Nick shrugged and winked at her, before carrying on.

> “Once I had access to the house it wasn't long before I began to get a cold feeling – so cold it settled in my bones and I wasn't able to shake it for days afterwards. Eventually it got so bad that I had to move about the top floor, peering into the deserted rooms, trying to get some circulation back. I was just making my fourth or fifth round when I looked up to see a little girl standing in the doorway.
> 
> She was a grey, pallid colour, and thin, dreadfully thin, her blonde hair matted to her head. She looked dreadfully ill and from her clothes she had to have been dead for at least fifty years. I stepped forward and tried to speak to her, but she vanished.
> 
> The next day I went to the local records office and then to the library, trying to piece together an idea of who she was and how she died. Armed with the information I needed I went back to the house.
> 
> It didn't take long for the little girl to appear again, and this time she let me come closer to her and actually talk to her.
> 
> “I want my Mommy,” she said, her voice surprisingly loud considering how insubstantial she looked. “I want my Mommy.”
> 
> “I know,” I told her, kneeling down so I could look her in the eye. “Why don't we go get her?”
> 
> The little girl nodded and I stood up and looked around the room. It started to get much colder, and I knew without turning that the girl’s mother had appeared in the corner. The same corner where she'd hung herself.
> 
> “Your daughter needs you,” I said.
> 
> The woman stared at me with unblinking eyes. “But she hates me. I let her die.”
> 
> I shook my head. “There was nothing that you could have done. The cancer was too far gone. All she wants now is her Mom.”
> 
> The woman turned to look at the girl for the first time and immediately the colour returned to the girl's face and she looked like any ordinary little girl, waiting for a hug from her Mom. The woman opened her arms, tears streaming down her face, and the minute they touched each other's hands there was a bright spark of light that lit up the whole house. And when I could see again, I found that they had both disappeared.”

Nick looked over at Kat, who was still regarding him with a thoughtful intensity.

“They were happy together?” Kat asked eventually.

“I think so. I went back again the next night, but there was no sign of them. We kept an eye on the house while the renovations went on, but there weren’t any more reports of strange sounds or cold spots.” He leaned forward and pulled the blanket closer around Kat. “Sometimes little girls just need their Mom.”

Kat nodded thoughtfully. “I've not been very nice to mine lately,” she said.

“It's never too late to make a change.”

Kat nodded and looked out at the snow, which was still falling, and tried to stifle a yawn.

“Why don't you get some sleep and I'll wake you when our intrepid rescuers arrive?”

Kat opened her mouth to argue, but just yawned again. “Okay,” she said. “Thanks.”

She let her eyes drift shut and snuffled in her seat until she was comfortable. Nick watched her for a moment and when he was sure she was asleep he turned his attention to the world outside, and thoughts of his own mother.

“I hope you're doing okay Mom,” he murmured. “I still miss you.”

Then he set about waiting for the rescue, having decided that spending a little time alone with Kat had probably worked out for the best. For both of them.


End file.
